A GROUP of volunteers have collected a whopping 245 bags of rubbish this year.

Coordinated by Your Housing Group (YHG), the team of litter pickers have been helping to keep Brookvale tidy this year.

Led by YHG’s Community Investment Officer James Coates, the team kindly gave up their time to do their bit to make the Brookvale community a nice place to live.

The litter pickers are supported by the Honey Café at Brookvale Community Centre, who have litter pickers available in their foyer for people to use – rewarding them with a free hot drink for their efforts.

James said “Ensuring that our residents have a community that they are proud of is really important to us.

"It is so easy for rubbish and fly tipping to really bring down the feel of a neighbourhood, but the power of the community coming together and collecting rubbish is making a positive impact in Brookvale.

"A lot of rubbish now collected is done by solo litter pickers who are starting to collect in their own time as well.”

This week the regular volunteers were joined by staff from YHG’s ICT team and volunteers from ASL Group and Triton Security, part the Triton Group, to assist with removing some fly tipping that had been reported by a YHG customer.

During the session the team were stopped by residents asking how they could get involved, and another grateful resident brought out a tub of chocolates to thank the volunteers for helping to make their community a nicer place to be.

If you would like to get involved please drop in to the Honey Café at Brookvale Community Centre, or email contact@litternetworks.org, or find Brookvale Litter Network on Facebook.